हालात

शहर जल गया बस राख बाकी है
मिट गयी हर आस फिर भी ये सांस बाकी है
चाहता तो मैं भी था एक मुकम्मल जहाँ
खत्म हो गयी हैं ख्वाहिशें क्यूँ ही ये इंतिहा बाकी है

We Will Take This Up Later !

I had a very unusual dream on the night of 5 January this year. In that dream, I saw my role model, my inspiration, Prof. Yoichiro Nambu. 

The first time I came to know about Nambu was in December 2008. I was browsing through the December issue of Science Reporter (I still have that copy) and I came across an article discussing the work of 2008 Nobel Prize winners in physics. He was awarded the the prize for his work on the discovery of the mechanism of 'Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking (SSB)'. I was immediately captivated by my newfound knowledge and Nambu became my primary motivation for choosing particle physics over any other discipline. I developed an unusual fondness with SSB and I had to wait for a little over five years to understand it and its implications in a coherent way. The reason for the delay was the advanced mathematics and physics required to understand the richness of this phenomena. 

My opportunity came during January-May 2014, when I had to do a six credit project as a part of the coursework. I chose this topic for my project because I wanted to understand the physics behind the phenomena which had kept me fixated for the last five years. This phenomena is ubiquitous in physics and has been at the heart of modern developments in particle physics. Every time I revisit SSB, I learn something new and to this day I am learning something about it. My suspicion is that it also manifests itself in humanities and other sister disciplines. It could surely find some application in economics where it could be used to describe some macroscopic phenomena by hiding all the messiness with its impeccable neatness.

During the course of the project, I came across two different terms — 'Dynamical Symmetry Breaking (DSB)' and 'Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking (SSB)'. The literature is very ambiguous with the usage of these terms and people use it interchangeably at times. However, at certain places some subtle differences have been pointed out. Nambu's own view on this was that every symmetry breaking is dynamical in nature and the terms can be used interchangeably. 

So, back to the dream ! In my dream, I asked him — "Is there any fundamental difference between SSB and DSB or the terms can be used interchangeably?". 

He smiled at me at said — "We will take this up later !"

सोचता हूँ

देखता हूँ जब उन अनजान बच्चों को

चौराहों पर गुब्बारे बेचते

कचड़ों के डब्बों से खाना बीनते

कांच की बोतलों की बोरी पीठ पर ढोते

तो ठहरता हूँ, सोचता हूँ

खुदा का शुक्रिया अदा करता हूँ

अपने नसीब पर

अपने आप में खोया हुआ

या दोस्तों के बीच मशगूल

बाज़ार के किसी कोने में बैठता हूँ

तो एक आवाज़ सुनता हूँ

भैय्या, पेन ले लो बीस की चार

तो ठहरता हूँ, सोचता हूँ

उन चमकती आँखों की

तमन्ना समझना चाहता हूँ

उन खिलखिलाती चेहरों की

मुस्कान बचाना चाहता हूँ

भविष्य के गर्भ से अनजान

वक्त की निष्ठुरता से परे

हँसते खेलते मासूम बच्चों को देखता हूँ

तो ठहरता हूँ, सोचता हूँ, डरता हूँ

कहीं अँधेरा बसेरा न बना ले इन आंखों में

कहीं शिकन न छ्प जाए इन चेहरों पर

तो ठहरता हूँ, सोचता हूँ

फिर बस सिसकता हूँ |

A Letter To Physics

The following poem was written by my friend Harshad Gupta. It has been lifted off his blog and reproduced here with his explicit permission.

Dear Physics, thou art so wild and free,
this is the reason why I love thee,
but as far as I can foresee,
in return thou will never love me.

With thee, I want to find synergy,
so that we can create free energy,
so that we can enlighten the world,
even though it sounds totally absurd.

With thee, I want to travel physical time and space,
so that I can rhyme about thy gorgeous face,
and write about the physical theories and laws,
which will make people regard thee with awe.

With thee, I want to terraform,
the moon, into a dorm,
so that the homeless will have a place to stay,
and to be far from the harm's way.

I want thou to be my wife,
so that together we can create the elixir of life,
with which, a long and healthy life, we can own,
in addition to the gold from the philosopher's stone.

Although, for it, there is not much scope,
but still, I have really high hopes,
that someday, together we will be,
much love, Dr. Mercury.

~Caritas, Lux, et Varitas;
The Unknown Poet.

मैं कुछ कहना चाहता हूँ

मैं कुछ कहना चाहता हूँ

एक अजनबी इंसान को राह चलते रोकना चाहता हूँ

चाय की चुस्कियों पर उस से गुफ़्तगू करना चाहता हूँ

क्या कहूँगा ये सोचा नहीं है अभी

पर शायद अपनी कहानी सुनाना चाहता हूँ

न जाने कैसे अरमान जग रहे हैं आजकल

मैं क्यूँ ही कुछ कहना चाहता हूँ

पूछता रहता हूँ खुद से यह सवाल

खोजता हूँ मन में शायद एक जवाब

पता नहीं जवाब मिल पाते या मैं सुन नहीं पता

लेकिन मन की गहराहियों को और टटोलने से हूँ कतराता

खुद के भीतर झाँकने से डरता हूँ

इसलिए शायद अपनी कहानी कहना चाहता हूँ

अजनबी ही क्यूँ जब दस काबिल दोस्त हैं मेरे

शायद परिचय का ही तो डर है

अक्लमंद हैं मेरे दोस्त जानते हैं मुझे

अनायास ही करने लगेंगे समीक्षा

मैं बस उस से कहना चाहता हूँ अपनी कहानी

जिसे मेरा ज़रा भी इल्म न हो

क्या ही रखा है मेरी कहानी में

कुछ अधूरी हसरतें

कुछ अनकही बातें

कुछ बिखरे आरज़ू

कुछ न हो सकी मुलाकातें

कुछ सूखे आंसू

सब कुछ ग़मगीन ही नहीं है बस

कुछ ख़ुशी के पल हैं

कुछ दोस्ती के फ़साने

एक बचपन का इश्क भी है

और कुछ वो पल हैं

जब खुद पे नाज़ हुआ था

शायद कुछ काम ही ऐसा किया था

एक एहसासों से भरी तिजोरी भी है

उस में कई और रंग छिपे हैं

लेकिन कब तक लिखता रहूँगा उन्हें

उन्हें तो मेरी आवाज़ की तलब है

इस कागज़ पर वो बस कोरे अलफ़ाज़ ही रह जाएँगे

लेकिन क्यूँ ही अपनी कहानी कहना चाहता हूँ

शायद खुद की आवाज़ सुनना चाहता हूँ

जिस साकित-ओ-ख़ामोश मंज़र में मैं क़ैद हूँ

उस से बस रिहाई चाहता हूँ

वक़्त के जिस मोड़ पर मैं खड़ा हूँ

यहाँ अपने वजूद को तलाशना चाहता हूँ

बस इसलिए अपनी कहानी कहना चाहता हूँ

अब बस गुफ़्तगू करना चाहता हूँ |

परिशिष्ट: यह कविता २३ अक्टूबर २०१६ को लिखी गयी थी | समय बदल गया है, मैं बदल गया हूँ | मैं अब कुछ नहीं कहना चाहता हूँ |

My Favorite Movies

• Green Book
• Capernaum
• The Insult
• Grave of the Fireflies
• A Perfect Day
• A Separation
• Road to Perdition
• Legends of the Fall
• Certified Copy
• Doubt
• Crash
• The Terminal
• Things We Lost in the Fire
• The Lives of Others
• Letters from Iwo Jima
• Judgment at Nuremberg
• Inherit the Wind
• Life Is Beautiful
• Lincoln
• Incendies
• Four Lions
• Scent of a Woman
• Open Range
• Road to Sangam
• Anand
• Gandhi, My Father
• Naseem
• Bawarchi
• The Apu Trilogy
• Garm Hava
• Nizhalkkuthu
• Zakhm
• Natsamrat
• Sarfarosh
  
  PS: I occasionally update this list.

True Test of Philosophy

The following has been reproduced verbatim from the book 'The Charm and Power of the Gita' by Swami Ranganathananda Ji, published by Advaita Ashrama. 

The Gita has a simplicity which we often miss. We are accustomed to complicate things. We cannot appreciate simple things. The human mind wants, in the name of philosophy and religion, something striking in the form of books, dress, rituals, etc. Simple character or simple ethical beauty is not much appreciated. Simple beauty is not appreciated by ordinary men. Truth which is simple is clothed in a variety of ways, and we get not the naked truth but a clothed truth. When you come to the Gita, we have the presentation of this simple truth which helps to take us across life’s problems. It frees us from all attachments of joys and sorrows and good and bad. It gives us absolute calm, and a freedom from all conditions – external and internal. We want this independence of the individual to be maintained at all costs. This is what philosophy seeks to confer on life. If we have this, what else do we require? One who attains this remains fresh in spite of life’s aging and retains the freshness of a new-born babe even unto death. He has philosophy to guide him. This is the true test of philosophy – a philosophy which helps us to pass though life’s struggles without getting scorched, which helps us remain as fresh at the end of the journey as at the beginning.